Land occupation strategies in the Costa Blanca's consolidated tourist areas (Spain)

Abstract

The Costa Blanca, Spain, one of the most important destinations in the Mediterranean coast, has undergone major transformations by tourist demand. This invites further study on how tourism-oriented settlements are shaped in terms of land use and spatial organization patterns. Three municipalities were analysed –Dénia, Benidorm and Torrevieja– and different land occupation strategies were identified and associated to different types of tourism: continuous urban patterns are found in mass tourism areas whereas discontinuous patterns are related to residential and vacation tourism areas.